Morwell, Victoria

Morwell Victoria
Corner of Hazelwood and Commercial Roads, Morwell
Morwell Location in City of Latrobe
Coordinates	38°14′S 146°24′E / 38.233°S 146.400°E / -38.233; 146.400Coordinates: 38°14′S 146°24′E / 38.233°S 146.400°E / -38.233; 146.400
Population	13,691 (2011 census)
Established	1870s
Postcode(s)	3840
Elevation	80 m (262 ft)
Location	149 km (93 mi) from Melbourne
LGA(s)	City of Latrobe
State electorate(s)	Morwell
Federal Division(s)	Gippsland
Localities around Morwell: Yallourn North Yallourn North Traralgon Boolarra Morwell Hazelwood North Yinnar Churchill Hazelwood North

Morwell is a town in the Latrobe Valley area of Gippsland, in South-Eastern Victoria, Australia approximately 149 km (93 mi) east of Melbourne. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,691.

It is both the seat of local government and administrative centre for the City of Latrobe. Morwell is central to the Latrobe Valley urban area which has a population of approximately 125,000 and as such has become home to many of the greater urban area's civic institutions, administrative functions and infrastructure.

The city is known for its role as a major energy production centre for Victoria as the centre of a major coal mining and fossil-fuel power generation industry.

The earliest inhabitants of the Morwell district were the Gunai (sometimes spelled Kurnai) Indigenous Australians. Their first contact with Europeans would have been with pastoralists who came south from the Monaro region of New South Wales in the 1840s in search of pasture for their stock.

In 1841, McMillan and Strzelecki made journeys of exploration through the region which would later be named Gippsland and during the 1840s the squatting runs of Maryvale, Merton Rush and Hazelwood were taken up in the area which is now Morwell.

The name of the Morwell River is allegedly the anglicised form of the Aboriginal words more willie meaning woolly possum. In turn, this became the name for the public house by the river and the early settlement nearby.